Category Archives: Epson WF-2630

Emulated 11/70 Printer, Updated

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My WF-2630 died recently and left me with a need to replace it. I thought that while I was replacing the printer, I might go with one that would print a larger page size like 11″x17″. Several companies had all in one printers that would handle that large size. Epson has a couple different models but they are very large around 20″x35″, HP has some but they are more expensive than I wanted. I settled on a Brother that was more moderately sized and priced. I also have Brother laser printer which I like.

Once I had the printer in hand and set up it was time to integrate it with ersatz-11. First, I wanted to pick which printer would get my output. It was really simple once I figured it out. All I had to do was set the desired printer as the windows default printer.

In the configuration file for Ersatz-11 (e11.ini), I had to change the printer assignment line to:

ASSIGN LP0: OSPRINT: /FORM:LETTER/SIZE:132X110/SIMPLEX

which breaks worn like this:

/FORM:/LETTER is regular 8.5″x11″ paper

/SIZE:132X110 is 132 columns (printing at 16 characters per inch) and 110 lines (10 lines per inch)

/SIMPLEX is only one side of the page

Once that was accomplished, I needed to fire up Ersatz-11, my emulated PDP 11/70 and make a change to the spooler command file (SPOOL.CMD). This time around, /DFL:107/LEN:107/HEAD:3/WIDTH:132, the DFL and LEN are set to 107 lines, the head to 3 lines and the /WIDTH to 132 columns.

Notice the /FORM:LETTER is for 8.5″x11″ paper, even though I was planning on using 11″x17″. Turns out both brother printers print at 16 characters per inch and 10 lines per inch unless told otherwise. That’s nice because although my new printer will print 11″x17″ it does so only one sheet at a time, with the operator hand feeding each sheet. Also, when I went to make these changes, I could not find any references to go by. I could not find where I got the information for the Ersatz-11 configuration file or spooler command file.

Creating PDF of Basic-Plus listings using WF-2630

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In the past I have tried to get usable listings posted in blog postings and they don’t fare well for me anyways.  While I was working on getting my emulated 11/70 to print I tried out something that works out pretty cool.

I have an Epson WF-2630 multifunction printer.  It prints, scans, and faxes.  It can create PDF documents as it scans and has an Automatic Document Feeder (ADF).

When you print out a listing it stacks up first page on the bottom to last page on top, so first thing I did after printing a listing is to reverse it so the header page is on top of the pile.

After I looked at the first couple of listings I had a thought about creating a PDF of one.  I took the stack and put in the ADF of the printer facing up.  I ran the Epson scan program and just told it to scan using the ADF.  For the size setting I used “Letter [L][11 x 8.5 in.]”.  After scanning the whole document I saved it.

The first couple of times I tried it I was using the size setting of “Letter [8.5 x 11 in.]” and then when I opened it using Adobe Reader I would rotate the image.

Choosing the “Letter [L][11 x 8.5 in.]” setting saves me from having to rotate the document to view it.

Looking at the PDF this creates is very much like looking through an old fanfold listing.

Here is a listing of a program I typed in called Star Merchant:
STMRCH-BAS

Emulated 11/70 Printer

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I have emulated a PDP 11/70 to run RSTS/E for decades.  The big thing that was missing for me was the ability to print.  Almost two years ago I switched from SimH, a great emulator, to Ersatz 11.  Ersatz 11 has the ability to print using the host computers printer.

When I switched over I got the printer working but, it wasn’t quite right  I seemed to loose a few lines of text over the page breaks.  The other night I had time to sit down and work though it.

If I print the traditional way, I could only get 80 columns.  Ersatz allows you to rotate the output to get wider printouts.  I had already rotated the output, but while I got the wider printouts I was loosing a couple of lines across the page breaks.  A little tedious trial and error resulted in a setting I could work with.  This line in the ersatz init file sets up the printer:  ASSIGN LP0: OSPRINT: /LANDSCAPE/ROTATE:90/FORM:LETTER/SIZE:132×58

Once RSTS/E was setup I changed the spool command file

FORCE KB: LP0:/DFL:55/LEN:55/HEAD:1/WIDTH:132

You will notice that the init file defines a page size of 58 lines of 132 characters, but the spool file defines it as 55 lines of 132 characters.  They don’t match but they do work on my Epson WF-2630.

The print out is not perfect.  The header pages from QUE are a few lines to long to fit on a page but the rest of the print out is great.